Professor Jonathan Turley of Georgetown University Law School wrote in The Hill of the Speaker’s State of the Union behavior, “Pelosi has shredded decades of tradition, decorum and civility that the nation could use now more than ever.” He also described her with the words “petty,” “distempered,” and “inappropriate.”  She failed to introduce the President properly, and then was particularly out of line when she tore up his speech after grimacing and showing petulant expressions throughout the President’s speech.

Turley asserted that she should resign from office as the Speaker as her breaches of decorum at the State of Union were the worst of all those he has criticized over the years. For Turley, it is important because decorum is a kind of unifying glue. It is the fallback M.O., the detachment whereby differences of person and policy are transcended in our republic.  He might just as well have called for the entire Democrat caucus to resign and be replaced by people of honor and integrity.  It is at that point that the analysis seems to fade into fantasy. 

Sadly, at this time in history, Turley’s view is a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Instead of decorum being the way unity is maintained as in the past, decorum now serves mainly as a mask covering a profound dislocation, a profound disunity.  Her lack of decorum and the unconscionable, implacable hostility of the Democrats of the House and Senate reveals the extreme political animosity that presently afflicts our country. 

We are faced with an incredible disunity, so intense that no appearance of unity in the form of decorum can cover it up.  The grim face of that disunity appeared at the State of the Union address, and was most visible in the egregious behavior of Speaker Pelosi.  

Decorum is only one aspect of unity, but can never substitute for unity. If unity of purpose, of conscience, and of our varied constituencies is not present then decorum becomes a mere cover-up.  Our national motto is e pluribus unum not e pluribus decorumatum.

Decorum has morphed over the past few decades into being a mask over the truth that laws have been passed and policies enacted that have not been of the people, by the people nor for the people.  Ill-conceived and destructive policies have been implemented and decorum is only the veneer of “bi-partisanship.”  

The jungle rot of the past 40-50 years of identity politics, globalism (i.e., the dilution of our national sovereignty), shift in our national identity – for approximately half the citizens -- from land of opportunity to land of exploitation, out of control immigration (fueled by our ever-expanding welfare system), and the decline of education owing to circumvention of the Tenth Amendment and the leftist ideology of too many educators, have all taken place behind the closed door of “decorum.”

“Decorum” was in place when China was admitted to the WTO.  This giant step towards globalism took place under Democratic initiatives that carried over into the Bush administration.  This admission made it easier for multinational corporations to open new markets in the Peoples’ Republic of China, but it also made China wealthier, and enabled the tyrants heading up that country to consolidate their power.  We aided and abetted tyranny thereby, but because of decorum – to maintain a veneer of gentlemanly acceptance – the utter horror of that decision was not brought to the fore. Bi-partisanship and decorum merged to create a false face of “progress.”

There was a ridiculous decorum shown by Pres. G.W. Bush when he was vilified incessantly as Hitler and insulted day and night by the Dems.  Unlike Pres. Trump, he did not say a peep. He remained above the fray, determined not to stoop to the level of his critics and the mean-spirited ones who heaped scorn upon his word choice errors and scorned him publicly and incessantly as a mental midget.

Decorum was in place by upping federal invasion of local prerogatives in education with the No Child Left Behind legislation and with Race To The Top Moneys. These initiatives enabled federal leverage on state education policy via implementation of social engineering through Common Core.  Not only are the educational premises of this program dubious, but students must answer 400 personal questions which go into a federal database permanently.

When this writer was growing up prior to 1973, both major parties accepted the value of every life, including the unborn.  Some objected, but it was a moral norm not to abort babies although many still did so.  The Republicans, believing in decorum, did not denounce Democrats relentlessly, nor did they organize protests against the Democrats at their conventions for their stand on this issue.  Yes – children can be dismembered and killed because mommy lacked self-control and couldn’t stay in a vertical position, and then, feeling that a newborn will interfere with her party life or other indulgences and comforts decides to do away with the child.

Just as the cultural Marxists have aspired to destroy the American family, we see Obergefell v. Hodges allowing the marriage of two men or two women cutting against thousands of years of family identities in all tribes, nations, cultures, and continents. But decorum says there will be differences of opinion on the most controversial matters, and we must applaud politely for the rights of others with whom we disagree.  How can homosexual marriage be considered a Constitutional right when it was voted down in 36 states including twice in California?  Education, birth, and marriage are not governed from Washington under the enumerated powers; yet, at present, they are so governed with relatively little pushback. Why so little pushback? The answer: decorum.

Professor Turley’s concern for decorum is a call to continue the false face of a false unity and a false message to the American people.  When candidate Trump called Hillary a crook, he broke all decorum since Hillary had been a First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State, and Presidential nominee of the Dems. With a resume like that, calling her a crook was deemed by many as rude and unacceptable. Yet, many of us loved that insult of her majesty, Ice Queen of Narnia. The days of decorum as a valid hiding place were coming to an end. We all know a “fish rots from the head down.”  Nancy revealed herself at the State of the Union as the source of the stinking, rotten, soulless behavior of the Leftocratic House. Her “mistakes” are actually a revelation.